NAMM 2008: Arturia debuts modular Origin keyboard

Eye-catching synth on display for the first time

Having announced that it was in development in 2007, Arturia has now officially unveiled the keyboard version of its long-awaited Origin synth.

This striking instrument features modules and controls from Arturia's popular software synths. So, you get emulations of the Minimoog, CS-80, ARP 2600, Moog Modular, Jupiter-8 and the Prophet VS. All of these modules can be combined, enabling you to build your own custom patches.

Origin Keyboard offers up to 32 voices of polyphony and comes with more than 500 presets. The hardware features two audio ins and ten audio outs, plus an S/PDIF output, MIDI I/O and a USB 2.0 connection.

Also onboard is a selection of effects, a 16/32 step sequencer and a 40cm ribbon controller. There are 55 potentiometers, 46 rotary encoders and 64 switches. As you can see from the picture, the Origin Keyboard also sports a moveable TFT screen.

It's also worth noting that a future update will enable you to use the Origin as an AU or VST plug-in, with the Arturia hardware doing all of the processing legwork.

We don't yet know when the Origin Keyboard will be released - despite being launched at the 2007 Winter NAMM show, the standard model hasn't made it to market yet - but we can reveal that its price has been set at $3499/€2999.